Canned meat and potatoes take up valuable space in a bear canister. Depending on what that canned meat is (and definitely with a couple potatoes thrown in), that could be at least couple days worth of volume for only a single meal. And then, you still have the cans to haul around and out as garbage. Best if you can have your meat and potatoes before or after your trip.

What we tend to do is to supplement our freeze dried food with other dried ingredients...we use peas, beans, various dried veggies, fruits, sometimes even jerky (beef, chicken, pork, fish...), and not so much anymore because of the scent, garbage, and mess, smoked baby oysters or sardines. Powdered sauces, soup mixes, dried herbs, and packets of Sriracha or other seasonings are always things we look for and try to incorporate whenever we can and weight allows. In other words, we try to make every meal something a little more special than they are to begin with, not just look forward to Sunday dinner and be happy with whatever is in the envelope the rest of the time.

Things that flow freely within a bag, that can be made to take up irregular spaces, will be the best options for maximizing space / not wasting any air space within the can. You will not only need to get food in, you need to get EVERYTHING WITH SCENT that could make a bear curious in -- toothpaste, tooth brush, any lotion that you have, any scented wet wipe, lip balms, and ALL TRASH. Having only ziploc bags as trash makes this much, much, much easier to do. Boxes, styrofoam cups, heavy Mylar bags -- replace all of it with ziploc bags and you may get 6+ days of food for one person, or 3-4 days for two people. The food for the first day does not have to be figured into that night's canister load -- but only if you eat all of it!

So if I want fresh food on a trip, I make it that first day's food, and I make sure that I minimize packaging materials. I freeze the item and pack it in a BAG. Not a can, box or anything with corners and hard sides. By dinner time it's thawed.

And NO, do not even suggest leaving the cans sitting outside the bear can. Bears CAN and DO eat canned food. I was at a boy scout camp after a bear broke into the kitchen -- ate a whole lot of canned goods. Crunch, slurp slurp, gone.

OK, clear. I guess, since I go with my companion, we can have one canister each, so space will not be so critical issue? What is the best place to get those dried meals? The last big city we will be at before the trip is Vegas.Can you please recommend some store?